Judith C. Jones Fellowship for Trainers of Color

The Judith C. Jones Fellowship supports the leadership of grassroots trainers and organizers of color building power and skills in their organizations and communities.

Meet Our 2019 Fellows

Cicia Lee

Cicia Lee is the Co-Training Director of Momentum, a training institute and movement incubator dedicated to studying and experimenting with popular movements. She grew up in Canada, and is currently based in Boston. Previously, Cicia worked for the Massachusetts Communities Action Network, which organizes congregations around racial and economic justice as a part of the PICO Network. She graduated from Wellesley College, where she spent her time studying feminist economics, political philosophy, and reading Asian-American authors. She is a 3-wing-4 on the enneagram and a taurus.

Kade Cahe

Kade Cahe, is a first-generation Black Dominican Queer GNC person from the Bronx. Kade dreams, schemes, and acts to dismantle anti-blackness, transphobia, ableism, gender-based violence, the prison industrial complex, and capitalism, to start, while creating radical restorative futures within our communities. You can find Kade as the Member Engagement and Leadership Coordinator at the Audre Lorde Project, an LGBTSTGNC community organizing center in New York City. They also organize through the BYP100 NYC chapter as one of the Healing and Safety co-chairs to bring holistic liberation to all black people. Kade utilizes their background as critical educator, organizer, and leadership trainer, on Swipe it Forward! actions, #SayHerName actions, and when integrating wellness into organizing spaces.

Rashad Buni

Rashad Jamal Buni (they/them/he/him) is a native Detroiter who is incredibly passionate in technology, social justice, and the intersection of both. Rashad is the Abolition Organizer for Good Jobs Now, leading campaigns on the dismantlement of the prison industrial complex in the city of Detroit and beyond. They joined the Movement for Black Lives after witnessing the active displacement and gentrification experienced by longtime Detroiters. Rashad soon joined the Detroit chapter of BYP 100, who are currently working on a campaign against hyper-surveillance in the city. In addition to growing as a direct action organizer, Rashad aspires to utilize their background in engineering to develop software that empowers activists and community organizers, like projects under Platform Cooperativism.

Samantha Master

Samantha Master is a Black queer feminist organizer and educator from PG County, MD. Her work at the intersections of race, gender and LGBTQ justice has been featured in several publications including TheRoot, TheGrio, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, the award winning film, The New Black. She is a member of the Black Youth Project 100 and co-leads the #FreeBlackMamasDMV bail out to decarcerate Black mothers who cannot afford bail and reunite them with their families and their communities. Samantha’s passionate about revolutionary communications, training, facilitation, and making biscuits for herself and her people. Follow her on all the things @TheFireNexTime.

Tanya Ferguson

Tanya Ferguson currently works as a union organizer for the Public Service Alliance of Canada. Based in Toronto, Tanya has worked as a community and labour organizer, supporting workers to unionize in Ontario, Michigan and California. Tanya is also a volunteer organizer with Justicia 4 Migrant Workers in Toronto. As a union organizer, a large part of Tanya’s work is training rank and file workers on how they can organizer their co-workers to make changes in their workplace.

Fellowship Alumni

2014

Arianna GennisKim Huynh

2015

Arianna GennisKim HuynhSharmeen KhanGio LopezOmi Masika

2016

Ileia BurgosJeannine CookSharmeen KhanGio LopezOmi Masika

2017-2018

About the Fellowship

The 2019 Judith C. Jones Fellowship for Trainers of Color is structured around three key components: 1) two in-person retreats; 2) monthly coaching sessions; and 3) skill-building opportunities, including TFC workshops and online Fellowship webinars. The Fellowship is a one-year commitment, from January to December 2019, with an opportunity to renew for a second year. We expect to accept up to five Fellows for 2019.

RETREATS

In-person skill-building retreats, one at the beginning and one at the end of the Fellowship

First retreat runs Sun, April 14-Tues, April 16, 2019 (attendance is required)

Second retreat date TBD by the Fellowship cohort for late Summer or Fall

MONTHLY COACHING

Monthly meetings with a one-on-one coach who can hold the arc of the Fellow’s growth

Fellows create a one-year work plan with their coach, outlining learning goals throughout the Fellowship

Fellows are paired with a TFC Coach that best fits their work and goals, and when relevant, can be connected to additional coaches and mentors. TFC Core Trainers generally hold coaching roles.

WORKSHOPS & WEBINARS

Free registration to any 2019 TFC workshop, including the Super-T (Fellows are responsible for travel)

Bi-monthly online skill- and relationship-building webinars via Zoom throughout the year, among Fellows. These are opportunities to engage and lead around various themes using experiential education.

Support to develop new tools, handouts, and resources.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the Judith C. Jones Fellowship, applicants must:

Identify as a Person of Color. Contact us with any questions around how we use this language and your eligibility.

Have completed a Training for Social Action Trainers (TSAT) workshop.

Be active in a social change context; practice training and facilitation in grassroots organizing, community-building, leadership development, or direct action.

Identify a training program, workshop, or ongoing facilitation opportunity that they will be working in during the course of the Fellowship.

Have strong commitment to self-reflection and ongoing learning; have clear sense of own goals for the Fellowship and areas of growth as trainers and activists/organizers.

Be accountable to program requirements; make a one-year commitment to the Fellowship and attend in-person retreats. We anticipate an average of 5 hours/month for Fellowship responsibilities.

Reside in the United States or Canada.

This Fellowship is NOT for…

People who have not yet attended a TFC workshop.

People who are not part of a network or organization that will provide opportunities to apply trainer skills.

People who are looking for administrative or marketing support to start their own business as a consultant.

People living outside the United States and Canada.

We receive many more strong applications than spots in the Fellowship. Even though the Fellowship is competitive, we encourage anyone eligible to apply. We are available to support throughout the entire process and are rooting for you to apply!

Decisions are made by a committee of Training for Change staff and trainers who consider all aspects of each person’s application, our knowledge of them as a trainer or facilitator, and the overall makeup of the Fellowship cohort. Outside of the above criteria for Fellows, we are open to accepting people who are using training and facilitation skills in different capacities and social change contexts. However, we do often prioritize folks engaged in social change movements through grassroots organizing or community-building, direct action campaigns, or leadership development outside of academia, social service agencies and large institutions. If you are applying, please be sure to include examples of your connection to this kind of social change work.

If you have any questions about the application process or would like support, contact us here.

2019 Fellowship Coordinators

Shreya Shah

s​hreya s​hah, mph, is a south asian facilitator/trainer with over 11 years experience in supporting grassroots groups and movement work- often integrating creative approaches as an activist coach, visual data tools designer,​ artist, and writer. shreya was first politicized as a youth worker, building and implementing sexual health and transformative justice, anti-violence programming for LGBTQ and homeless youth of color at a one-stop health center. in collaboration with other artists, healers, and organizers, their work lies at the intersections of racial, gender, and economic justice.

s​hreya’s art and facilitation opens up space for embodied trauma-healing and resiliency practices and processes for self- and community-determination. shreya works across the states with training for change as well as saltwater social justice training- with homes in Oakland, CA; Michigan; and Philadelphia, PA. shreya loves singing, visiting with the ocean and woods, and laughing loudly with loved ones. Check out www.saltwatertraining.org for more information!

Omi Masika

Omi Masika’s (they/them) relationship with TFC started in 2013 when they attended the Training for Social Action Trainers for People of Color (POC TSAT). Before joining the JCJ Coordinator team, they were a graduate of the Super-T, the Training for Transformation, and the 2nd class of the JCJ Fellowship.

Their work primarily consists of coaching and mentorship through the Judith C. Jones Fellowship, the Fund for Trans Generations, and most recently facilitating the Trans Justice Community School for the Audre Lorde Project. They believe that healing is at the root of their training work. When participants are given the space to heal from past trauma and hurt, there is more openness to transformation.

When they aren’t facilitating and training, they are an assistant coach for the youth Muay Thai program at 8 Limbs Academy, and are a member of the 8 Limbs Academy competition team.

Zein Nakhoda

Zein, TFC Director, is a trainer, media maker, and organizer based in Philadelphia. He’s organized around environmental justice through fossil fuel divestment campaigns and as a co-founder of Philly Thrive, fighting environmental racism and fossil fuel expansion in Philadelphia. He’s a former Wildfire Project Fellow, and is in current political community with LeftRoots and the Maypop Collective. He’s made community and movement media with Scribe Video Center, Media Mobilizing Project, and independently. Some of his media work can be found here; his current film explores practices and rituals of resilience among organizers and community-builders in greater Philadelphia.

Zein has been connected to Training for Change since 2009 through trainings and coaching. He co-facilitates TFC trainings and joined staff in 2017.

Hear from previous JCJ Fellows (2015):

Judith C. Jones

This Fellowship is named in honor of TFC Training Elder Judith C. Jones, Ph.D. Also known as “Diva Bear,” Judith worked with Training for Change for over a decade and for years was lead trainer in TFC’s Training for Social Action Trainers and Advanced Training of Trainer workshops. Judith grew up in Philadelphia, received her doctorate in Political Science from Atlanta University, and has taught at Penn State University and at Philadelphia University. Judith is also co-author of “Two Voices from the Front Line: A Conversation about Race in the Classroom,” included in the award winning anthology “Race in the College Classroom,” published by Rutgers University Press. She has led diversity and conflict workshops for a diverse client base and has served as a guide and role model to many TFC Trainers.

This Fellowship is named in honor of TFC Training Elder Judith C. Jones, Ph.D. Also known as “Diva Bear,” Judith worked with Training for Change for over a decade and for years was lead trainer in TFC’s Training for Social Action Trainers and Advanced Training of Trainer workshops. Judith grew up in Philadelphia, received her doctorate in Political Science from Atlanta University, and has taught at Penn State University and at Philadelphia University. Judith is also co-author of “Two Voices from the Front Line: A Conversation about Race in the Classroom,” included in the award winning anthology “Race in the College Classroom,” published by Rutgers University Press. She has led diversity and conflict workshops for a diverse client base and has served as a guide and role model to many TFC Trainers.